Niederauer Gabriele G, Niederauer George M, Cullen Larry C, Athanasiou Kyriacos A, Thomas James B, Niederauer Mark Q
OsteoBiologics, Inc., San Antonio, TX 78249-3308, USA.
Ann Biomed Eng. 2004 Mar;32(3):352-9. doi: 10.1023/b:abme.0000017550.02388.c5.
The in vivo assessment of the quality of cartilage is a critical tool to determine how to clinically treat damaged cartilage. Utilizing nondestructive indentation, a hand-held instrument (ACTAEON Probe) was used to rapidly measure the stiffness of articular cartilage, which can then be correlated to cartilage condition. An integrated series of tests were performed to determine whether the Probe is sensitive enough to detect early degenerative changes in articular cartilage and to examine if it is dependent on the thickness of the cartilage being tested. Results demonstrated that there is no effect of thickness on the Probe measurements for clinically relevant human cartilage samples, that the Probe is sensitive enough to detect different levels of cartilage degeneration, and that Probe data correlate well with traditional creep indentation testing. This study demonstrates the utility of the Probe for detecting degenerative changes in animal and human joints.
软骨质量的体内评估是确定如何临床治疗受损软骨的关键工具。利用无损压痕技术，使用一种手持仪器（ACTAEON探头）快速测量关节软骨的硬度，然后将其与软骨状况相关联。进行了一系列综合测试，以确定该探头是否足够灵敏以检测关节软骨的早期退行性变化，并检查其是否依赖于被测软骨的厚度。结果表明，对于临床相关的人体软骨样本，厚度对探头测量没有影响，该探头足够灵敏以检测不同程度的软骨退变，并且探头数据与传统的蠕变压痕测试相关性良好。这项研究证明了该探头在检测动物和人类关节退变变化方面的实用性。
